Packaging method and apparatus

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for packaging an article in a flexible bag comprises the use of a conveyor for transporting the article to a loading station where the article is raised from the conveyor to a bagging position by a plurality of horizontally disposed, vertically movable fingers supporting the article. A flexible bag is placed over the article and over the fingers, the fingers are then lowered to a slack bag pulling position and thence to their initial position while depositing the bagged article onto the conveyor which removes it from the fingers and from the loading station.

Umted States Patent [15] 3,638,390

Kupcikevicius 1 Feb. 1, 1972 [54] PACKAGING METHOD AND 2,939,259 6/1960 Heckler ..53/35 X APPARATUS 2,593,588 4/1952 McDonald ...l98/19 X 3,201,912 8/1965 Wozniak ..53 61 [72] Inventor: Vytautas Kupcikeviclus, Chicago, 111, I [73] Assignee: Union Carbide Corporation, New York, Primary Examiner-Travis McGehee Attorney-John F. Hohmann [22] Filed: Feb. 26, 1970 [57] ABSTRACT PP 14,542 A method and apparatus for packaging an article in a flexible bag comprises the use of a conveyor for transporting the arti- [52] U 5 Cl 53/35 53/255 53/391 cle to a loading station where the article is raised from the [51] B65b 5/00 conveyor to a bagging position by a plurality of horizontally [58] Fie'ld 257462 disposed, vertically movable fingers supporting the article. A p I391 b, 198/19 flexible bag is placed over the article and over the fingers, the fingers are then lowered to a slack bag pulling position and thence to their initial position while depositing the bagged ar- [56] References cued ticle onto the conveyor which removes it from the fingers and UNITED STATES PATENTS from the loading Station- 3,00l,345 9/1961 Zeller ..53/ 124 D 6 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures SHEET 1 [1F 3 INVENTOR VYTAUTAS KUPCI'KEVICIUS /%TTORNEY PATENTED FEB 1 1972 PATENTED res 1 m2 sum 2 OF 3 lNVENTOR VYTAUTAS KUPCIKEVICIUS BY ATTORNEY PATENIEBFEB H912 3.638.390

sum 3 or 3 INVENTOR VYTAUTAS KUPClKEVI CIUS BY I f I 24/, 1 7 4/0 ATTORNEY PACKAGING METHOD AND APPARATUS The present invention relates to the packaging of articles in flexible bags and refers more particularly to the packaging of large food articles in such bags.

The packaging of large food articles such as primal cuts of fresh meat in flexible bags such as plastic film bags is conventionally done manually on simple fixtures, such as fixed platforms. Inasmuch as these food items vary widely in size and are irregularly shaped and since their weight may range from about pounds to about 60 pounds, or more, and that the bags are relatively limp and difficult to handle, it is a tedious and cumbersome manual operation. Moreover, the manual handling of meat cuts in a carcass breaking or cutting line, particularly from the boning conveyor to bagging station, is unsatisfactory because of sanitary reasons, fatigue of the operators and space considerations. Primal meat cuts cannot be readily slid along worktable surfaces since they have a tendency to stick thereto. Also, such cuts often develop unsightly concentrations of blood when bruised or forcibly slid along a work surface.

In an effort to overcome these disadvantages an apparatus has been proposed, which includes a conveyor belt for delivering a large heavy meat article onto a support made of a plurality of horizontal rods. The rods are positioned in a plane below that of the conveyor belt. They extend forwardly of the conveyor and are adapted to move forward in the direction of advance of the conveyor belt and to receive the article which is automatically pushed off the conveyor belt and falls onto the advanced rods. A flexible bag is placed over the article and over the rods which then retract until the bagged product is again automatically pushed off the rods to fall onto another support. A serious disadvantage of this apparatus is that it subjects the meat article to rough handling, causing it to fall twice during the bagging operation. The meat tends to be bruised by each fall and also during the removal of the bagged article from the rods because the heavy meat article does not slide readily over such rods.

It is an object of the invention, therefore, to provide a new method for sanitary and efficient packaging of a large article, particularly a heavy meat article, in a flexible bag which eliminates most of the manual steps heretofore necessary.

It is another object of the invention to provide a new method for packaging a meat article in a flexible bag which method permits a more rapid enveloping of the article by the bag and eliminates the risks of bruising the meat or of damaging the bag.

A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for packaging large articles in flexible bags.

The foregoing and additional objects will become more fully apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus for packaging a large meat article in a flexible bag according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 2 to 5 are schematic cross section views of the apparatus of FIG. 1 showing successive steps of the packaging of the meat article in the flexible bag; and

FIGS. 6 and 7 are schematic cross section views of a modified embodiment of the apparatus of FIG. I showing successive steps of the packaging of the meat article in the flexible bag.

The invention provides a method for packaging a succession of articles, such as large meat articles in individual flexible bags. Each article is delivered to an article-supporting member associated with a conveyor system. The supporting member and the article thereon are then elevatedabove the conveyor, a flexible bag is placed about the article and the supporting member, and the article and supporting member in the bag are thereafter lowered onto the conveyor. The article in the bag is deposited onto the conveyor which removes it from the supporting member before the next article is delivered to the supporting member.

According to the invention there is also provided an apparatus for packaging an article, which apparatus comprises a conveyor system having at least one elongate, horizontal member, the upper surface of which supports the article. A forked platform comprising a set of elongate, spaced-apart, horizontal members is disposed level with or preferably below the upper surface of the conveyor. The set of elongate members forming the forked platform is vertically movable with respect to the horizontal upper surface of the conveyor. Each member of the set is adapted to pass in a space adjacent an edge of the horizontal supporting surface of the conveyor. At least one set of the elongate members is arranged to straddle or bracket the horizontal supporting surface of the conveyor. During its vertical upward movement, the set of elongate members forming the forked platform comes into contact with the article, picks it up and raises it from the conveyor, and during its vertical downward movement brings the article back onto the conveyor. The vertical movement is initiated by a position-sensing unit that is tripped by the arrival of the article on the conveyor.

The set of elongate members forming the forked platform is attached to a support member adapted to reciprocate vertically in response to a signal from the position-sensing unit and to index the forked platform from a first, initial position level with or below the upper surface of the conveyor to a second, bagging position for the article above the conveyor. While they are in the bagging position, a plastic film bag is placed over the article and over the platform supporting it. A bag is selected preferably of a size to provide a slack or loose fit over the article and the platform. The bag may be pulled, pushed or inverted over the article. Then the support member indexes the forked platform to a third, bottom position below the initial position, and then raises it to the initial position.

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown in FIG. 1 an apparatus for packaging a large meat article according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. The apparatus comprises a machine frame 10 supporting a conveyor shown generally as 12 for a large, heavy meat article 11. The conveyor 12 comprises a plurality of endless, horizontal, parallel spaced-apart belts l3 trained about a power driven forward pulley 9 and an idler pulley 8. A support member 6 is provided for each belt (FIGS. 2 to 5). A multipost stanchion shown generally as 14 is pivotally mounted as one element of a parallel crank four bar linkage generally indicated as 7 on the frame 10 at a bagging station B to reciprocate vertically with respect to the conveyor 12. Each post 15 of the stanchion 14 is so positioned as to pass in a space between the belts 13 of the conveyor 12 during vertical movement of the stanchion 14. A plurality of horizontal fingers 16 extend in spaced, parallel relationship with respect to each other and in offset relationship with respect to the belts 12, one end of each finger 16 being secured to a post 15. The fingers 16 form a forked platform 17 cantilevered from the stanchion l4. Reciprocating upward and downward vertical movement of the stanchion l4 and, therefore, of the platform 17 to three different operating positions is effected by the parallel crank linkage 7, actuated by a main double-acting pneumatic cylinder 18, and an auxiliary double-acting cylinder 20, which are controlled by conventional pneumatic circuitry (not shown). The cylinder blind end of the pneumatic cylinder 20 is pivotally mounted to the frame 10 and its piston rod 21 is pivotally secured to one end of a bellcrank 27. The cylinder blind end of the pneumatic cylinder 18 is pivotally mounted on the other end of the bellcrank 27 and its piston rod 19 is pivotally secured to the stanchion 14. Thus, the cylinders 18 and 20 are connected in tandem through the bellcrank 27 and are controlled to sequentially index the forked platform 17 to a bagging cycle of three operating positions. The forked platform 17 of the stanchion 14 is indexed to the initial or neutral position when the piston rod 21 of the cylinder 20 is in its extended position and the piston rod 19 of the cy-inder 18 is in its retracted position. The platform 17 is indexed to the bagging position when the piston rods 19, 21 of cylinders 18, 20 are both in their extended positions. The platform 17 is indexed to the bottom position when the piston rods 19, 21 of the cylinders 18, 20 are both in their retracted positions.

The operation of the apparatus of the invention will now be described with particular reference to FIGS. 2 to 5. As illustrated in FIG. 2, in the beginning of the operation, the fingers 16 of the forked platform 17 are at their initial or neutral position at the bagging station B, i.e., they are indexed in a plane slightly below that of the upper surface of the belts 13. The large meat article 11 is carried by the conveyor 12 from right to left (FIG. 1) until it reaches a loading position above the forked platform 17 at the bagging station B. Its arrival to such position is sensed by a pneumatic position-sensing valve 22 which is tripped by the article (FIG. 1) and which thereby initiates movement of the piston rod 19 of the cylinder 18. The rod 19 of the cylinder 18 is extended and thus raises the stanchion l4 and the fingers 16 of the forked platform 17 to a second, bagging position, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. As the fingers 16 are raised from their initial position, they pick up the meat article 11 from the conveyor 12 which thus rests on the platform 17 and is brought therewith to the bagging position. A large plastic film bag 26 is then placed over the meat article 11 and over the fingers 16. As shown in FIG. 3, the bag 26 fits loosely over the meat article and the fingers.

Next a pneumatic valve button 24 is actuated and through conventional pneumatic circuitry (not shown) the piston rods of the cylinders 18 and 20 are retracted, and thereby lower the stanchion 14 to bring the fingers 16 down to a third, bottom position, lower than their initial position (FIG. 4). The meat article 11 enveloped in the bag 26 is thus deposited onto the conveyor 12 by the fingers 16 in their downward movement. In reaching their bottom position, the fingers 16, now in the bag 26 and no longer in contact with the meat article, pull and tension loose or slack bottom portions of said bag down to their own level, between and below the spaced-apart belts 13 of the conveyor 12.

Immediately after the fingers 16 are indexed to their bottom position, the piston rod 21 of the auxiliary cylinder 20 is actuated by conventional time delay means (not shown) and raises the fingers 16 back to their initial position below the upper surface ofthe belts 13. This return of the fingers 16 to their initial position creates a clearance space between the pulled down portions of the bag 26 and the fingers, to facilitate removal by the conveyor 12 of the bag from the fingers. The bagging cycle is completed and the conveyor 12 then advances the bagged meat article away from the bagging station and simultaneously removes the bag 26 from the fingers 16, while another meat article 11 is advanced by the conveyor 12 to the bagging station. In this manner, the meat article is not permitted to drop or to fall from one support to another and is not subjected to any pushing or sliding forces which could bruise the meat or dislodge any kind of protective, identifying and/or wrapping material already applied to it before the bagging operation. The movement of the conveyor 12 may be continuous, or may be interrupted for the bagging operation.

In an alternate embodiment of the invention, several or all of the fingers 16 are removably secured to the posts 15, respectively. When a food article of narrower dimensions, for example, is to be packaged within a correspondingly narrower bag, one or more fingers may be removed from their respective posts to adjust the width of the forked platform 17 to the width of the article 11. Longer or shorter removable fingers may also be provided to permit easy and rapid adjustment of the dimensions of the forked platform 17 to those of the article to be packaged. Also, since the platform 17 is composed of spaced-apart fingers, an article of narrower dimensions than the platform may be supported by said platform without removing any of the unnecessary fingers and a bag may easily be placed over the article and over only those of the fingers supporting it.

Other modifications may be effected to the apparatus of the invention. For example, as illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, the conveyor 12 may comprise a single belt 13 and the fingers l6 and posts 15 are then disposed so as to straddle or bracket both sides of the belt. There may be one, or more, fingers on each side of the belt. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the fingers l6 may be so disposed as to cradle the meat article, if desired. The fingers may be adapted to be actuated independently from each other in different vertical movements and distances to cradle the meat article. Furthermore, instead of belts, the conveyor 12 may comprise a chain or chains, or any other elongate members suitable for conveying an article, provided that they extend in spaced, parallel relationship with each other. Also, other types of conveying means, such as walking beams and the like may be used.

The advantage of packaging an article according to the invention will be illustrated in the following example.

EXAMPLE Bags made from tubular, polyvinylidene chloride film of about 0.002-inch thickness were used for bagging primal meat cuts. For a primal chuck out which weighed about 40 pounds and was about 13 inches wide, 24 inches long and tapered from a height of about 9 inches to 6 inches across the width of the meat, a bag of 22 inches flat width and 24 inches length was used. For another typical meat cut, i.e., a primal rib, which weighed about 23 pounds and was about 14 inches wide, 16 inches long and tapered from a height of about 5 inches to 2 inches across the width of the meat cut, a bag of 18 inches flat width and 30 inches length was used. Each of the meat cuts was prepared for bagging by covering projecting bones or sharp portions with a moldable, self-adhering fabric material.

A conveyor 12 according to the preferred embodiment of the invention had five belts 13 each having a width of 1% inches and spaced 3 inches on centers. The fingers 16 forming the forked platform 17 were %-inch-diameter steel rods, each 25 inches long and spaced 3 inches on centers. For each of the typical primal meat cuts described above, four fingers 16 were secured to the posts 15 of the stanchion 14. In the initial or neutral position, the top surfaces of the fingers 16 were indexed one-eighth inch below the top surface of the belt conveyor 12. When the meat cut 11 was advanced on the conveyor to the bagging station to trip the position-sensing valve 22, the stanchion l4 raised the fingers 16 to index the bottom of the meat cut into the bagging position about 6 inches above the conveyor 12. A film bag 26 was then manually drawn over the meat cut 11 and the fingers 16. The stanchion 14 was then lowered, as described above, momentarily to the bottom position where the fingers were about l inch below the belt conveyor l2, and then back to their initial position. In the operation of lowering the fingers, the bagged meat cut was lowered to the belt conveyor 12, the fingers 16 continued downward to tension and pull slack portions of the bag down into the spaces between the belts, the fingers then returned to their initial position thereby removing the tension on the pulled bag portions and permitting the advancing belt conveyor 12 to readily strip the bagged meat cut 11 from the fingers 16 and to transport it to a succeeding processing operation.

None of the meat cuts was bruised and no unsightly concentration of blood was visible on the surface of any of the meat cuts. The fingers were no longer in contact with the meat when the bagged meat cuts were removed from the bagging station, which eliminated the somewhat difficult pushing and sliding of the cuts off the fingers, heretofore necessary in conventional meat-bagging operations. No rough handling of the meat cuts was involved. The self-adhering material applied to the projecting bones and to the sharp portions of the cuts remained in place during the entire operation.

While the invention has been described in connection with the packaging of large heavy cuts of meat, it is not limited plastic film such as polyvinylidene chloride, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene film or laminates thereof, or of a fabric or a cloth made of natural or synthetic fibers, or of paper, or metal foils, or any combination of these materials.

I claim:

1. A method for packaging an article in a flexible bag, which method comprises a. placing an article to be packaged on a conveyor,

b. delivering said article to an article-supporting member associated with said conveyor,

c. elevating said supporting member and said article to a position above said conveyor,

d. placing a flexible bag about said elevated article and supporting member,

e. lowering the article and supporting member in said bag until the weight of the bagged article is transferred from said supporting member to said conveyor, pulling a portion of said bag with said supporting member to a position below the surface of said conveyor after the article in the bag has been lowered onto said conveyor while moving said supporting member out of contact with the article, and

g. removing said article in said bag from said supporting member by moving said conveyor.

2. An apparatus for packaging an article in a flexible bag,

which apparatus comprises, in combination,

a conveyor having a delivery side and a discharge side, said conveyor comprising at least one elongate, horizontal member having an upper surface to support such article;

a platform comprising a set of elongate, spaced-apart, horizontal members disposed and arranged to pass clear of said conveyor upon vertical movement of said horizontal members;

a support member for and attached to said platform positioned on the delivery side of said conveyor;

and means for moving said support member and said platform attached thereto vertically reciprocally through sequentially indexed positions with respect to said conveyor from a first, initial, position in a plane not higher than said upper surface of said conveyor, to a second, bagging position above said conveyor, to a third, bottom position below said initial position, and from said third, bottom position to said initial position whereby an article is elevated from the conveyor for bagging, returned bagged to the conveyor and transported on the conveyor from the location of the platform 3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, in which the elongate, horizontal member of the conveyor system is a belt and theelongate, spaced-apart, parallel horizontal members composing the platform are fingers disposed on both sides of the belt.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, in which the conveyor system comprises a plurality of spaced-apart, parallel belts having an upper surface adapted to support the article and the set of elongate, spaced-apart, parallel horizontal members composing the platform is a set of fingers positioned in offset relationship with respect to the belts, each finger being adapted to pass in a space between said belts.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, in which the fingers are secured at one end thereof to a multipost, vertically reciprocating stanchion support and are .cantilevered therefrom.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 5, in which the fingers are removably secured to the multipost stanchion support. 

1. A method for packaging an article in a flexible bag, which method comprises a. placing an article to be packaged on a conveyor, b. delivering said article to an article-supporting member associated with said conveyor, c. elevating said supporting member and said article to a position above said conveyor, d. placing a flexible bag about said elevated article and supporting member, e. lowering the article and supporting member in said bag until the weight of the bagged article is transferred from said supporting member to said conveyor, f. pulling a portion of said bag with said supporting member to a position below the surface of said conveyor after the article in the bag has been lowered onto said conveyor while moving said supporting member out of contact with the article, and g. removing said article in said bag from said supporting member by moving said conveyor.
 2. An apparatus for packaging an article in a flexible bag, which apparatus comprises, in combination, a conveyor having a delivery side and a discharge side, said conveyor comprising at least one elongate, horizontal member having an upper surface to support such article; a platform comprising a set of elongate, spaced-apart, horizontal members disposed and arranged to pass clear of said conveyor upon vertical movement of said horizontal members; a support member for and attached to said platform positioned on the delivery side of said conveyor; and means for moving said support member and said platform attached thereto vertically reciprocally through sequentially indexed positions with respect to said conveyor from a first, initial, position in a plane not higher than said upper surface of said conveyor, to a second, bagging position above said conveyor, to a third, bottom position below said initial position, and from said third, bottom position to said initial position whereby an article is elevated from the conveyor for bagging, returned bagged to the conveyor and transported on the conveyor from the location of the platform
 3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, in which the elongate, horizontal member of the conveyor system is a belt and the elongate, spaced-apart, parallel horizontal members composing the platform are fingers disposed on both sides of the belt.
 4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, in which the conveyor system comprises a plurality of spaced-apart, parallel belts having an upper surface adapted to support the article and the set of elongate, spaced-apart, parallel horizontal members composing the platform is a set of fingers positioned in offset relationship with respect to the belts, each finger being adapted to pass in a space between said belts.
 5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, in which the fingers are secured at one end thereof to a multipost, vertically reciprocating stanchion support and are cantilevered therefrom.
 6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 5, in which the fingers are removably secured to the multipost stanchion support. 